Sheri Wohlfert
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Talks & Topics
    • Discipleship & Evangelization
    • Women's Ministry
    • Catholic Schools
    • Catholic Hospitality Training
  • Events & Bookings
  • About
  • Contact

Joyful Words Blog

Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light for my path. 

– Psalm 119:105

Prodigal Me

8/7/2014

2 Comments

 
“Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.” Luke 15:31

I heard someone on the radio the other day talking about the story of the Prodigal Son so I decided to give it another read and do some thinking on it.  Every time I read the story I get angry with the first son.  According to the customs of his time, asking for his inheritance was the same as saying his father was dead to him.  As a parent I just can’t imagine what it must have felt like to be so bitterly betrayed by my own son.  As I read on, I sometimes find myself cheering for the second son…the one who was obedient, hardworking respectful and never asked for anything.   He seems like the good son for sure…or does he?  Surely the first son is the bad son…or is he? As I prayed on this passage from Luke’s Gospel I began to see myself in both sons.  I’m not gonna lie…I didn’t like that idea very much!

I saw myself in the second son but not for good reasons.  Yes I try to be obedient to God’s will and yes I try to be grateful and conservative and not demanding but this wasn’t what was stirring in my heart.  The second son was all about entitlement.  He wasn’t concerned about his brother, he was concerned about himself.  He didn’t stop for 2 seconds to see the relief or joy in his father’s eyes.  He didn’t stop for 2 seconds to realize what a tremendous act of “pride swallowing” his brother had just demonstrated. And he certainly didn’t stop long enough to think about how extravagantly his father would shower him with love if given the chance.  It was a gigantic open and shut case of “that’s not fair!”  Why is it we have such a hard time being genuinely happy for others when good fortune comes their way and not ours? I guess I need to think more about the blessing of generosity and less about keeping score.  I heard a story not long ago about a wealthy couple who had attended a fundraising event and won the big cash prize.  The audience was full of second sons who whispered among themselves about how that couple certainly didn’t deserve to win.  What all those whisperers didn’t know is that the couple humbly accepted the cash prize and used every penny of it to buy groceries, diapers and gas cards for two struggling young family in their church.

The first son…what could he possibly have to teach me?  I smugly thought I would never be so bold, wasteful, irresponsible and disrespectful.  God wouldn’t let it off my heart so I stayed a while longer and thought about that lousy first son and as I sat and prayed, he began to sprout some redeeming qualities.  I began to consider things like his courage, humility and desire to reconcile.  He knew he had hurt his father but something deep inside him wanted to make that right.  He wasn’t asking to have everything back to normal; he was willing to be a hired man not a son.  True, his return might have been motivated by selfish reasons like hunger and pride but I can’t even imagine being brave enough to take the risk.  He had to be willing to own up to every one of his mistakes and face the judgment and consequences that might come. He left home prideful and arrogant and he returned broken and weak and a complete failure, but yet he returned.  As he walked down that road to his father’s house every weakness was on full display.  I’m not sure I could muster that kind of honesty.  I can go to all sorts of lengths to conceal my weaknesses and failures; it must have been quite a task to lay it all on the line like he did.  I noticed that not once did the son offer any kind of excuse or rationale for his behavior.  He just told it like it was and hoped to be accepted in spite of the brokenness he brought with him; I don’t know about you but I could take a lesson there!

I spent so much time thinking about the sons, I forgot the star of the story…the father.  The father in this story is our father too.   Our Heavenly Father loves us with the same unconditional love as the father in the story.  He will always welcome us back no matter what we’ve done or where we’ve been and he will be so happy to see us there will be great rejoicing.  He loves us even when we’re too busy keeping score to realize only he knows the perfect reason blessings are bestowed as they are.  I realized he wants us to know his forgiveness and his generosity.  He wants us to remember our job isn’t to focus on the behavior of his children; our job is to focus on the love of the Father.

A Seed To Plant: Pick a favorite Gospel story and give it a read with fresh eyes, asking God to put you right into the story so he can reveal his truth and love to your heart.

Blessings on your day!

2 Comments
Ann
8/7/2014 12:14:57 am

The last time I heard this I also looked more deeply at the father. It is a different perspective and brings peace to me to know our Father is so loving!

Reply
prov31wannabe
8/10/2014 12:39:05 am

One day I finally looked up the word "prodigal." It says, "recklessly extravagant," characterized by wasteful expenditure; lavish; luxuriant; one who spends or gives lavishly and foolishly. The "reckless" and "foolish" parts of the definition we would all apply to the son who went off. The "extravagant, lavish, luxuriant" part we could apply to the father in the story as well as to God our Father. What if we called this story The Prodigal Father? It has totally reoriented my view.

Also, we have a children's bible that explained/reminded that Jews don't eat pork, and this young man actually went and fed the pigs and took care of them it was an indication of just how utterly low he had sunk, in his heart, mind and body.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Subscribe to Joyful Words Blog
    Subscribe

    Sheri's writing can also be found at Faith Catholic Publications and on CatholicMom.com
    Picture
    Picture

    Archives

    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012

Email     [email protected]

Phone   989.640.6673

Subscribe to Joyful Words Blog

* indicates required
/* real people should not fill this in and expect good things - do not remove this or risk form bot signups */

Content is the intellectual property of Sheri Wohlfert
Created by Olivia K Design
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Talks & Topics
    • Discipleship & Evangelization
    • Women's Ministry
    • Catholic Schools
    • Catholic Hospitality Training
  • Events & Bookings
  • About
  • Contact